Staff

Gregory Whitmore began his tenure as Director of Bands at Cathedral City High School in August, 2001. Mr. Whitmore is also an adjunct instructor of applied music at College Of The Desert in Palm Desert, California. Mr. Whitmore, a native of Ypsilanti, Michigan, received his Bachelor’s Degree in Instrumental Music Education from the University of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan. While a student at The University of Michigan, Mr. Whitmore performed under conductors H. Robert Reynolds, Dr. James R. Tapia, Dr. Kevin L. Sedatole, Dennis Glocke, and Jeffrey Grogan. Mr. Whitmore actively performed in the University of Michigan Concert and Symphonic Bands; and he led the University of Michigan Marching Band as “Michigan’s Man Up Front” - Drum Major from 1999 to 2001.

A recognized member of four editions of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, Mr. Whitmore has been selected as the Cathedral City High School Educator Of The Year three times (2009, 2007, and 2005). Additionally, Mr. Whitmore has been selected as a CCHS Top Ten Educator Of The Year four times, and Mr. Whitmore has been recognized as 2005 High School Educator Of The Year for the entire Palm Springs Unified School District. Mr. Whitmore has been included in the 2005/2006 Edition of the National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teachers. Mr. Whitmore is a Cathedral City Chamber of Commerce Golden Apple Educator Award Recipient, and Orion Award Recipient for Excellence in Education. Mr. Whitmore has been selected to represent the State of California by School Band and Orchestra Magazine as one of 2008’s “50 Directors Who Make A Difference”.

Mr. Whitmore has conducted the Cathedral City High School Symphonic Band in such notable concert venues as Carnegie Hall in New York City, Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Holy Trinity Church in Stratford, England, St. John’s Smith Square in London, England, and Meng Hall in Orange County, California. Under Mr. Whitmore’s leadership, the Cathedral City High School Marching Band has garnered numerous awards and performed on national television twice (2005 and 2007), and the Cathedral City High School Symphonic Band was selected to perform as the showcase ensemble during the 2008 California Band Directors Association Annual Convention. Mr. Whitmore belongs to several professional organizations that include Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity, Phoenix Honorary Leadership Society, Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, Music Educators National Conference, and California Music Educators Association.

Mrs. Tiffani Natalini-Whitmore

Tiffani Natalini-Whitmore has been the Director of Visual Activities at Cathedral City High School since 2001. During that time the size of the color guard has grown from 4 members to 24 members. Tiffani's color guard experience includes being a four year member and color guard captain of the Bands of America National Champion Plymouth-Canton Marching Band and a four year member and color guard section leader of the University of Michigan Marching Band. Tiffani has worked with several groups in Michigan including Plymouth-Canton, Saline, and Southlake High Schools. She has also worked with the color guard at Desert Hot Springs High School in Desert Hot Springs, CA.

Tiffani's focus with all the groups she has worked with includes making color guard and marching band an enjoyable and rewarding learning experience. It is also important that all students feel they are welcome and valued members of the organization. The skills pride that develops while in color guard apply to many areas of life . Tiffani's hope is that students will take this experience and apply their new knowledge base throughout their lives.

Tiffani is originally from Michigan where she attended the University of Michigan and received a Bachelor's degree in Sports Medicine and a Master's degree in Ergonomics. In May 2005, she received her Registered Nursing degree at College of the Desert. She currently works at Eisenhower Medical Center as a medical-surgical nurse.

Brian Scott Morales

Brian Scott Morales has been involved with the Cathedral City High School band program since 2000. He excelled in band and music throughout high school, participating in all of the bands' performing ensembles. In addition to the CCHS band program, Brian has also performed with various honor bands, three Drum Corps International championship groups, and other various groups and ensembles.

While pursuing drum and bugle corps, Brian has studied under many world renowned percussionists and educators, including: Brian S. Mason, Andrew Beall, Ike Jackson, Caleb Rothe, and Dan Duffield. He has performed in venues such as The Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, Mile High Stadium (home of the Denver Broncos) in Denver, Colorado, The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, and Gillette Stadium (home of the New England Patriots) in Foxboro, Mass.

After graduating in 2004, Brian began volunteering to help with the drumline and front ensemble. He was hired on as a front ensemble tech the following year. Over the years, he began to extend his instruction to the full drumline and will be taking over this year as percussion caption head for the marching band season.

Brian is currently studying music at RCC and has been accepted into the Berklee College of Music in Boston for the fall term of 2009.

David Brennan, DMA - Saxophone

David Brennan is widely sought-after as both a performer and teacher in the greater Los Angeles area. His performance career includes recorded music for and appearances in several motion pictures, including "A Bright Shining Lie," "Pumpkin," "Road Trip," "Don't Say A Word," "Shrek the Halls," and the summer blockbust er hit "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." In addition, he has had the honor of playing for President Bill Clinton and worked as a consultant for the hit ABC show "Grey's Anatomy."

He has performed the national anthem at the NCAA Tournament Championship Finals in both Gymnastics and Volleyball. His ensemble experiences include performances with the Santa Barbara Symphony, West Hollywood Orchestra, Santa Monica College Symphony, Santa Monica Civic Light Opera, and Gang Nam Symphony from Seoul, South Korea. After receiving permission from Lindsey Buckingham's publishing company, Dr. Brennan wrote an arrangement of the hit Fleetwood Mac song "Go Your Own Way" for saxophone quartet, which premiered in concert in Los Angeles.

Dr. Brennan holds the unique distinctions of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he studied saxophone performance, conducting, and music education. He currently serves as a member of the faculty at La Sierra University (Riverside, CA), teaching saxophone, chamber music, jazz improvisation/theory, woodwind technique and music appreciation. Additionally, he has served on the faculty at UCLA, Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA) and The Master's College (Santa Clarita, CA). He is proud to be an endorsed artist/clinician with the Conn-Selmer Company.

Scott Wright - Trumpet

Scott Wright has been a busy freelance trumpet player in the southern California area for the last twenty plus years. He is a graduate of Cal State Northridge and has a degree in music and business. Being equally comfortable in a variety of musical styles has made him a top call performer and clinician. Scott is busy playing live with a variety of musical theater, local symphonies and entertainment offices all over the Los Angeles area. He can also be heard and seen on such shows as Bones, Boston Public, Rosie O'Donnell Show, Arsenio Hall Show, Control, Hocus Pocus and The Last Samurai. Scott has also been on tour with the Monkees, the Lettermen and the Legends of Rock and Roll featuring the Coasters, Drifters and Little Richard. He has also worked in the Disneyland band, Las Vegas Flamingo Hilton and Cabrillo Musical theater group. Scott is also an artist-clinician for Yamaha trumpets and currently resides in southern California with his wife, daughter and 3 dogs.

Able Santos

Abel Santos, has been involved with the Cathedral City High School program since 2004 where he coaches the French Horn and low brass sections of the music program and guest conducts with the Symphonic Band. Abels musical experience started when he was taking piano lessons at the age of 5. His public music training started when he was in the 5th grade with percussion and gradually started learning how to play brass instruments. His first brass instrument was the Euphonium, where he won several honor band and solo & ensemble honors. In high school is when he picked up the horn, and stuck with it ever since, playing it throughout his present day life with many professional groups, college ensembles, and several studio ensembles. His current and past teachers have included Jim Atkinson, Paul Klintworth, and Lisa Cherry. Some movie, TV, and cartoon credits include feature film Igor, the TV ABC family series Greek, and the Nickelodeon cartoon The Fairly Oddparents. His musical marching experience includes performing, coaching, and judging throughout the country. Abel was involved with the Palm Desert HS marching band as a student, Riverside City College as a student, and several drum corps throughout the summer. His teaching experiences have included several high schools, drum corps and private lesson students throughout the country, with groups such as Carolina Crown D&BC, Jersey Surf D&BC, Upland HS, and Palm Desert HS. His judging experience was with the Southern California Band & Orchestra Association, where he judged marching ensembles for two years before dedicating most of his life to his education. Abel judged both the visual & music captions in that circuit. Abel currently resides in Long Beach, where he is a part time student at CSU-Long Beach.